It was in the 70's last week in Williamsburg, which means the bees all broke cluster and enjoyed some cleansing flights.  There is a risk with the warm/cold cycle of days as we go into January and February.  The bees will use more resources (honey) when they break cluster.  To help them through the winter I put dry sugar on the inner cover.  This absorbs moisture, as well as provides emergency food.  How much they use it varies by hive (size, stores, etc).  The hive in this photo went into winter very strong and I was not surprised to see some bees on the inner cover when I checked them.  

This was an interesting cutout I completed on a three-story building, so I completed the work in a cherry picker.  Not wanting to go up and down, I had a lot of equipment with me - the bee vacuum, plenty of hive bodies, frames for placing comb, buckets for discarded comb, etc.  I had quite an audience for a while of construction workers and people walking by.  The contractor I did the work for had contemplated doing the cutout himself and after seeing the work done he said "No way, no how, no sir!" - he is not a beekeeper...  The hive was (is) beautiful, with tons of brood, honey, and pollen.  No evidence of small hive beetles.  The space had bees removed in previous years by others, but I think they left a lot of old comb.  The wood showed evidence of a pretty decent wax moth infestation. The colony was relocated and doing great, with a very productive queen.  ​​

Many new beekeepers often wonder if their hive is being robbed.  Often times, it is actually an orientation flight (which I most often observe around 4:00 pm).  In this video, you can see actual robbing behavior.  Note the massive amount of bees going into the nuc and not orienting (doing figure eights).  Bees leaving the nuc are also climbing up before taking off (because they are loaded with honey/nectar).  Also observe the bees on the grass in front of the nuc.  Other signs include bees fighting in front of the entrance and a large amount of wax cappings in front of the entrance.  You can also see in this video bees attempting to enter the hive through a small gap in the cover.  Robbing often starts this way.  As I pan to the right, you will see a hive that the day before experienced robbing.  With this hive I installed a robbing screen and it quickly put an end to the robbing. My friend Ron made this screen for me because, as he puts it, my robbing screens are shameful.  For those wondering, the nuc being robbed is a laying worker nuc (queen failed and I missed it) that I had not yet shaken out.  I don't try to save laying worker hives - it is not worth the time.

I was doing yard work today and was able to snap a few photos of some bees working.  

Just sharing a good photo of drone brood for new beekeepers.  You can clearly see the dome capped cells of the drones.  To the far right of the image there are capped worker cells.  

​This is a slow-motion video of workers coming and going from a hive.  Most beekeepers like to stand around and watch their bees work, and I'm no exception.  There is something wonderful and fascinating seeing them work.

There was some cross comb in this hive and I knocked out some larvae while going through it.  I worked down to the bottom board to clean that off from winter and saw these girls already moving out larvae that fell to the bottom.  The industriousness of bees is awesome!

This is a lovely brood pattern by an overwintered nuc queen! Beekeepers will appreciate this - everyone else will probably shrug... :>)

If you chase swarms, at some point you'll be faced with a swarm high up in a tree.  One way to reach them is through a simple setup.  You will need a painters extension pole, the roller on the end, duct tape, and a 5 gallon (or similar) bucket.  I was trying to explain this on a group and was asked if I could sketch it out, thus the high quality drawing above.  Basically, you put the roller on the extension, duct tape the bucket handle to the roller (allow it to roll freely, so the bucket remains plumb) and you have your swarm catcher.  Stand 3 to 5 feet to the side of the swarm, extend the pole under it, then firmly bump the branch and swarm so it falls in the bucket.  Lower the pole and dump the bees in a hive (or nuc, whatever).  If you got the queen, the rest of the swarm will fly down in a bit.  A simple way to know if you did is the workers will line up at the entrance with their tales in the air fanning. If you missed her you may need to repeat this a couple of times. If you don't know what a painters extension pole is, I have a link to one below (buy a cheaper one).  Good luck!  
Link to a pole at Home Depot

I've built a number of queen mating nucs, a modified version of my five frame nucs.  Basically I've added a dividing board to turn it into a couple of two frame mating nucs.  Entrances are on opposite sides and I do have holes drilled in the top for feeding. 

On Monday I did a full inspection of nearly all my hives. I like this photo because it is like a highlight reel - queen, brood, nectar, pollen, pretty comb, propolis, and plenty of bees! So far (knock on wood), I've had phenomenal survival over the winter.  By straight math, ~5% deadouts, and that is including some hives I probably should have merged in the fall. Overall I'm very happy.  One last note, I already have drone brood in some hives.

Even with a jig, building frames can get a bit monotonous.  I've assembled around 800 already.

I finished assembling 25 nuc boxes this afternoon as I've expanded my nuc production this year (and almost sold out even so). Now for the boring part - painting.  These boxes last years; the old box in the top left is 3 years old (with a mismatched lid) and has no serious issues.  I use exterior grade plywood (not pressure treated), with prime and paint.  The red painted line is actually a sideways letter I.  To keep track of the nucs and also to create a unique front to assist with orientation flights  I cycle through the alphabet painted on using a template. If like to build some of these yourself, I have the cut template in the Build it yourself area. 

Well, not here in Virginia, but it has in parts of the United States.  The National Phenology Network tracks the coming of spring based upon synthetic measures of early season events in plants, based on recent temperature conditions. These models allow them to track the progression of spring onset across the country. Check on the status of spring at their website.

I attended a presentation by Samuel Ramsey a while back on his research before it was published.  It has finally become available and for beekeepers it makes an interesting and informative read for the winter.  I’m certain companies are paying close attention as it has direct implications on how to control Varroa destructor. It will be years before a new product comes to market to control Varroa, but this research certainly advances our understanding and will put treatment in a new direction. 
Summarized from the abstract and conclusion:
The parasitic mite Varroa destructor is the greatest single driver of the global honey bee health decline. It is not consuming hemolymph, as has been the accepted view, but damages host bees by consuming fat body, a tissue roughly analogous to the mammalian liver. The lack of success in developing effective systemic pesticides likely is because of the same issue of tissue misidentification. The development of tools, both chemical and nonchemical, to manage this pest is particularly likely to be affected by these findings. "Our study reflects a need to reexamine even the fundamentals of our knowledge of Varroa as we work to diminish its impact...Our work provides a path forward for the development of novel treatment strategies for Varroa.”

​Published article title:Varroa destructor feeds primarily on honey bee fat body tissue and not hemolymph
Available at: ​https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/01/08/1818371116
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​In this video, the timeline for the Virginia Beehive Grant Program from application to receiving the hives is discussed. We also open the shipment and take a look at what is included. This hive setup is an 8-frame, medium hive body. The state contracted manufacturer is Dadant, so this is their equipment that is shown.

There have been quite a few posts about the recent research linking Roundup (glyphosate) and honey bee health.  I encourage folks to read the source paper, rather than summaries that are republished on the web. This will provide a better understanding of the underlying research methodologies and results.  

​I put off collecting one last swarm trap until last week.  It was hung in a tree and as I was taking it down I dropped the trap. It traveled home with me in the car and then I sat it outside my garage figuring I'd clean it up over winter.  Well, it warmed up today and some honey bees came out for cleansing flights!  I had checked it last in early August, so this is a late season swarm. I weighed it against an empty trap and realized they seem to have a reasonable amount of stores. So, off it went to the bee yard and I’ll check them out in the spring! 

Giving honey bees as a present this year? After you complete your purchase from us, you can download and print our card to leave under the tree!  Just click the link below.  

I just returned from an extended vacation in Egypt and was excited to find hieroglyphs of honey bees in some of the tombs! I'm posting this image as it still has the original colors it was painted all those thousands of years ago. ​